Progress in Knitland and Project Runway

Recent progress in Knitland. I finished the spiral Kureyon #88 hat. I have now made two items in this same colorway and hope never to see it again! I still have one skein left though so I guess someone will be getting a hat made out if it sometime. Hopefully in the far far future.


Here's a photo of the back of the Myrtle jacket. It is coming out well I think. On the back burner right now though because I got a bit tired of working on it. You can't see the moss stitch at all in the photo. It's too bad because it looks really nice in person. Too subtle for the camera to pick up though. I'll try to get a close up of it when I work on it some more.


And finally a (semi-terrible) photo of the finished Clapotis in Mango. Please forgive the jammies. It seems like I only ever take photos of these things late at night! Besides, to be honest, the wacky jammies are practically my knitting uniform. :)

As I suspected, the color variation between skeins is much less dramatic or noticeable when the stitches are unpicked. I love the soft drapey feel of this yarn. I will be casting on tonight for the Clapotis in Verdes Esperanza. I had to go and get another needle though. My gague was just a wee bit off on the Mango Clapotis so if I go down a needle size I won't run out of yarn this time! I have a leftover skein of Mango which I may turn into either a hat or felted purse to go with the Clapotis. That is - if my sister likes the color! I will be giving it to her this weekend so - we'll see! On second thought, ever since the KRB did their review of the Handpainted Yarns line it is becoming scarce. Perhaps I should auction off my extra skeins on Ebay and go into early retirement. ;) I'm glad I discovered that yarn before the rush - maybe by the time I use up my stash Marcos will be stocked up again. Although with all the rumors about price increases and changes in the availability etc. I may just have to hoard this stuff like gold! Soon I will be like Golom sitting amongst my stash and stroking the skeins murmuring "my precious, my precious..."

Project Runway. The bad news is the show is finished. The good news is that Jay won! I really thought he would be the winner since pretty early on. He always had the freshest ideas, the most individual style. I loved his runway collection. The vibrant color palate was inspiring and I loved his use of layers. The most unique thing was his use of knitwear, crochet and quilting. I (obviously) really love it when someone can take a fresh look at a traditional craft and update it without seeming to diss it's history. So many young designers either seem to think they invented the wheel or they don't realize they are simply copying the wheel. Jay's work was intellectual but not the slightest bit arrogant. Nor was it derivative. Tough to do. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

A word on the other finalists: Kara Saun. She is a good designer - no doubt. But her collection was a disappointment and her behavior over the custom made shoes was just wrong. I credit her with the intelligence to know that she was trying to pull a fast one. I hope she learned from the outcome. Wendy: I thought her collection was okay with a few really good pieces. It just never really came together though. I'm glad it wasn't a total disaster because I hate to see anyone crash and burn!

Someone on the review board said maybe we should all honor Jay's evident love of knitwear by knitting him tons of funky hats and scarves. I thought that was a fun idea. Maybe we should have a Knit Jay a Funky Hat Along. Anyone interested? :)